March 12, 2021 This newsletter is mostly for the birds. Bebezland Farm Flynn Township, Sanilac County With the polar vortex, computer failure, and usual chores, it was a rough February here at the Thumb Land Conservancy office, otherwise known as “Bebezland Farm”. We are located in the desolate wind-swept tiled barrens between Brown City and Marlette in southwest Sanilac County. In a 1-mile radius around us, there are only about 60 acres of forest - just 3% of the landscape. It is basically the same for about 10 miles around. I know of only a few woodlots in this area with any hardwoods, most consisting of very disturbed woodland too wet to farm and dominated by Silver Maple. Regardless, more woodlots are cut, stumped, and tiled every year to grow corn and soybeans. If all goes well, one day our 73 acres will be a Thumb Land Conservancy sanctuary. Our hay field and pasture supports a fairly rich spring and summer bird community with American Woodcock, Bobolinks, Eastern Kingbirds, Eastern Meadowlarks, American Goldfinches, Field Sparrows, Song Sparrows, Red-winged Blackbirds, Brown-headed Cowbirds of course, Killdeer, Tree Swallows, Barn Swallows, a few Wild Turkey, and transients like Upland Sandpipers and Sandhill Cranes. We normally delay our first hay cutting until the end of July or first of August, which most farmers consider absurd, but allows young grassland birds to fledge. After 16 years, we have quite a large population of Bobolinks returning to our fields every May. A male Bobolink in the hay field at Bebezland Farm. The winter bird population here is generally dismal with a mob of House Sparrows and sometimes a gang of European Starlings that hold conversation over morning coffee. A small flock of American Goldfinches is one of the bright spots. Occasional American Crows and Screech Owls are heard off in the distance. Flocks of Snow Buntings appear in late winter but are soon gone. There are the passers-through like Turkey Vultures, Red-tailed Hawks, and sometimes a Northern Harrier. A Bald Eagle even stopped in last year which I promptly chased off for the sake of our all-white Pekin Duck and the cats. If someone told me I'd ever chase an eagle away from here I would have a hard time believing it. What a privilege to now have Bald Eagles as pests. This winter has been a little better for our birds. It kind of started with my new hummingbird feeder a few summers ago and our continuing wildlife habitat improvements. For years, we let most of the yard revert to field, with goldenrod and other asters gradually expanding, and now Gray Dogwood out front. This summer, the bees loved our new patch of sunflowers, which also provided the Goldfinches extra autumn food. A small concrete bird bath that someone tossed was added. I planted a few Eastern Red-cedar or juniper trees rescued from development sites. The Goldfinches began feasting this fall on nyjer seed in an expensive feeder that someone discarded apparently because the wireless “WingSong” microphone that transmits bird sounds into your house doesn't work. This feeder retailed for about $180. We expanded the birds' winter feed with safflower seed, a little suet, a little peanut butter, and now peanuts. They get a small pan of water almost every morning. The return on this small investment has been the daily pleasure of watching a host of American Goldfinches and Dark-eyed Juncos along with several Mourning Doves, two Blue Jays, first one then two Northern Cardinals, two Downy Woodpeckers, and now two Tufted Titmouse, which is very good for around here. The bad part is that House Sparrows continue to mob the feeding area, but I hope to make progress on discouraging them. The new flower garden with sunflowers at the TLC office. Problems with buying seed to feed wild birds are that it probably displaces native plant communities and wild birds somewhere else, takes up space for growing people food, and creates an incentive to clear more farm land. A person can compensate by consuming less meat and alcohol, to start with. For now, a few bags of seed seem little to ask of the world. Given everything working against wild birds in our region, it feels like the right thing to do. Feeding them may produce more benefits than negatives. Whether to continue feeding birds in summer can be an ongoing debate that I will leave to experts for now. I'll at least continue feeding the hummingbirds. So far, we have made demands on only enough crop land to grow two 40-pound bags of sunflower seed, one still unopened, two small bags of nyjer seed, one small bag of safflower seed, and one small bag of peanuts. The peanut butter was old and the suet mostly fat drained from a Christmas ham. Better yet if plantings around your yard help support native birds. For us, just letting Gray Dogwood and Riverbank Grape expand in our front yard helped by providing a little food and cover. Southern Lake Huron Coastal Park Grant North American Wetlands Conservation Act Ducks Unlimited On February 24, the TLC was informed that we were awarded a grant of $100,000 for land acquisition through the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, Small Grants Program. This funding should be available later this year and will be used to purchase more property for the Southern Lake Huron Coastal Park project north of Port Huron. The TLC thanks Kali Rush, Regional Biologist with Ducks Unlimited, for her work in applying for this grant on our behalf, as she has on two other federal grant applications. Kali and Ducks Unlimited will administer the grants for the TLC, which anyone familiar with government grants knows can be a daunting task. In return, Ducks Unlimited receives a small percentage of the funding. The North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) was enacted in 1989 to provide federal cost-share funding to support the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, an international agreement that provides a strategy for the long-term protection of wetlands and associated uplands habitats needed by waterfowl and other migratory birds in North America. NAWCA funding is provided through a competitive grant-based program. Our Southern Lake Huron Coastal Park project is a nice fit for NAWCA funding because of the large amount of wetland to be protected in the beach ridge and swale complex, the significance of the associated upland beach ridges to the habitat, the close proximity of the park to Lake Huron, and the importance of this coastal habitat to migratory birds. We see Wood Ducks in our Dead End Woods Sanctuary and the new Bidwell Sanctuary looks like great habitat for them, in addition to many other migratory bird species confirmed there. Photo via <a href="https://www.goodfreephotos.com/">Good Free Photos</a> The North American Wetlands Conservation Council (NAWCC) created the Small Grants Program in 1996 to encourage new grantees and partners to carry out smaller-scale, long- term wetlands conservation projects that may otherwise not be able to compete in the larger Standard Grants Program. For 2021, the NAWCC set aside $3 million for small grants. Only 30 eligible small grant proposals were received requesting a total of about $2.8 million. Ducks Unlimited submitted 9 of these proposals requesting nearly $850,000. NAWCC staff reviewed the proposals and recommended 28 of the 30 for funding. The NAWCC approved all 28, totaling about $2.6 million, which included $100,000, or almost 4% of the total funding, awarded to the TLC for our Southern Lake Huron Coastal Park project. Ducks Unlimited began in 1937 as an organization focused exclusively on protecting ducks and other waterfowl game species. In recent years, the organization has expanded their work through an ecosystem approach that benefits a broad range of species and habitats. Many different environmental organizations have similarly expanded their work, realizing more and more how inter-connected everything is. As a result, Ducks Unlimited has been working with a growing number of partners dedicated to protection of the natural environment, particularly wetlands, for many different reasons. The following article describes the expanded approach: https://www.ducks.org/conservation/national/ducks- and-a-lot-more?poe=conservation Thank you Kali Rush, Ducks Unlimited, and the North American Wetlands Conservation Council. It's nice to see this interest and investment on a federal level in the coastal wetlands of the lower Thumb region. Bidwell Sanctuary Southern Lake Huron Coastal Trail Burtchville Township, Saint Clair County Work has continued on our new Bidwell Sanctuary in Burtchville Township. The entrance is now fully cleared, allowing for plenty of parking space off Metcalf Road. This part of the sanctuary was a former residence, demolished years ago, and was covered by weedy vegetation. Clearing has also continued on the foot trail to the north, part of the Southern Lake Huron Coastal Trail. Back in November, the TLC enlisted the help of Justin Peltz, son-in-law of TLC member Brian Martin. Justin is very interested in natural area stewardship. He cleared honeysuckle shrubs and cut several Black Locust and Black Walnut saplings. As the snow cover recedes, we will continue trail clearing to the north. Justin is 31 with a family of three, soon to be four. He's had a love for nature for as long as he can remember. He was brought up gardening and started hunting in his early twenties. Justin appreciates access to public lands and supports the mission of TLC. He believes people need to have wild places to experience nature.